The next morning, the Fluffies gathered round to look at the bright red Fluff Spike had managed to tear off during the attack. There was no flesh attached so he likely just pulled it right off of the attacker, but it was definitely Fluff, the monster in the dark was one of their own kind.
“How can Fwuffy du dis?” Jenny asked, still scared from the night before. “Fwuffies awe fow huggies an wub.”
Patches shook his head, knowing that wasn’t 100% true. “Dewe bad Fwuffies, meanie Fwuffies dat onwy wan gib huwties. Dis wun of dem.”
Calvin snorted again. “Den wha Fwuffies du bout it, gun wet dis munstah huwt fwiends an famiwy? NU! Cawvin nu wet dat happen. If munstah am Fwuffy, den munstah am ONWY Fwuffy, munstah can gu foweba sweepies.”
“An how Cawvin gun du dat?” Penny snapped at him. “Dis Fwuffy am gud at hidies, git tuu cwose tu babbehs.”
“Cawvin knyo it Fwuffy nyo, knyo watt u wook fow.”
Patches agreed. “Hewd knyo wat munstah is an wat Fwuff dey hab. We hav uppew-han nyo. Munstah onwy come at dawk-times, Fwuffies west up, need be stwong fow dawk-time.”
Patches left the adults to prepare and went to check on Spike, the young colt had barely moved since last night, the bruise on his side hurting too much to do a lot of movement.
“Spike gud?”
“Spike gud, jus need be swow.”
“Hewd am safe cause of Spike, nyo knyo dat munstah am Fwuffy. Bu munstah stiww out dewe, an wikewy come bak.”
“Den Spike be weady fow munsta…”
Spike tried to stand up only to fall back down over the pain in his side. Patches dashed foward and stopped him from falling onto his injury.
“Spike du enuff, wet huwtie git betta, big Fwuffies keep hewd safe.”
“Can… can Spike stay cwose tu babbehs? Need make suwe babbehs am safe.”
Patches nodded, knowing that Spike’s protective instincts would mean he would stay near the foals even if he was told not to.
With Patches help, Spike slowly made his way over to Jenny’s nest and sat down at the entrance, Jenny was still shivering with fear but seeing Spike close by made her feel a little better.
“Spike am gud Fwuffy, pwotect mummah an babbehs.” She smiled at him, her shivering stopping long enough to feed her foals properly.
As Spike lay down, one of Jenny’s foals, a little orange filly, started waddling her way over to Spike, Jenny clapped her hoofs at the sight.
“Owange babbeh am ‘spworin babbeh, mummah su happy.”
The filly clumsily made her way over to Spike, he smiled at the sight, the little thing couldn’t see with her eyes still closed, but he made sure she was kept safe. As the filly started to drift too close to the nest’s entrance, Spike placed his hoof out to guide her back inside, feeling his soft fluff against her, the filly rubbed her head on his arm, cooing softly.
“Wub.”
Spike and Jenny looked at each other, they’d both heard it, but neither had said it. Spike looked down at the little filly on his arm, and sure enough her tiny little eyes were half-open, contentedly rubbing her face on Spike’s fluff.
“Wub.”
Jenny gasped and giggled. “Babbeh am tawkie-babbeh nyo, hab biggesh heawt happies Gud babbeh.”
Spike tried to hand the filly back to her mother but Jenny shook her head. “Babbeh wub Spike, Spike am bestesh big brudda nyo. Need gib ‘spworin babbeh namesie nyo.”
It was al Spike could do not to cry there and then, Jenny was given him the honour of not only naming one of her children, but naming her first talkie-babbeh. He looked down at the orange girl, still coing at the soft feel of her adoptive big brother, and he knew exactly what to call her.
“Mawia, babbeh namesie am Mawia.”
“Coo, wub namesie.”
Ignoring the pain in his muscles, Spike brought Maria in for a hug, his heart soaring with love for the little filly. Silently he made a promise to never let anything happen to her or her siblings.
He couldn’t save his Maria, but he’d damn well save this one.
Things were quiet for the next three bright-times, the herd still vigilant, Percy and Penny risked the day-time to find food since night-time was now too dangerous. Patches and Calvin took turns standing guard at night, each making sure that the entrance was guarded, as far as they knew it was the only way in or out, but that just made them worried about how the monster got in.
“May-bee munstah weave.” Percy said hopefully when Calvin brought up his fears that the monster hadn’t returned.
“Cawvin nu fink su, fink munstah wait. Fwuffies am cawefuw nyo, hawda tu sneak.”
Calvin looked around the alleyway, still curious as to where the Fluffy had disappeared to.
“Pen-ee stiww fink dis home nu safe. Brite-times tuu dangewous tu find nummies, dawk-times tuu dangewous tu gu sweepies. Wai Fwuffies stiww hewe?”
“Dat wai.” Patches said, pointing to Spike and Jenny’s foals playing, his bruise was mostly healed and he was having fun playing chasies with the young foals, now that they were all talkie-babbehs.
“Babbehs need tu hab gud-home, dis was gud home tiww munstah awwive. Fwuffies can weave, find nu home, bu dewe stiww be munstah, Fwuffies nu be safe tiww munstah deawt wiv.”
Percy turned to his sister and sighed. “Pat-cheese wight, nu wan weave home, munstah am scawy, but Fwuffies togetha can take it.”
Penny rolled her eyes before hugging her brother. “Yu dummeh, bu yu bwave. Pen-ee hewp fight munstah.”
Patches agreed, they were going to fight this monster, and protect their home. As everyone scattered to their positions for the night, Patches saw Calvin eying the back of the alleyway, it was boarded up by a wooden fence, put there by humans long ago, and the corner was filled with bins that were too far into the alley for most humans to even notice or care about. It was that fence that made Calvin nervous.
“Wat Calvin finkin?” Patches asked his friend.
“Dat fencie gib Cawvin wowwies, nu wike it. Gun take a wook.”
Calvin poked and prodded around the fence, he couldn’t see any obvious signs to be worries about, until he moved the long-forgotten bin bags and saw it. A small hole in the corner of the fence, barely large enough to notice, but big enough for a Fluffy to squeeze through.
“Dat how munstah git pass Fwuffies.” Calvin growled at how foolish they had been not to notice this before.
Patches was hit with worry, knowing the Fluffies lacked the skills to cover the hole properly. “Dis pwobwem, nu can wook at twu pwaces at wunce, munstah can git in.”
Calvin turned to his old friend and smiled. “Nu wowwies bout dat. Cawvin hab pwan.”
That night, Patches took his typical guard post at the entrance to the alleyway, he was getting tired from the bare few hours of sleep he was getting, but he was a strong Fluffy, and he needed to protect his herd.
While Patches was at the front of the alley, at the back, a soft rustling of plastic bin-bags could barely be heard. The Monster had arrived, eager to return to his hunting ground.
The Monster pulled himself through, his twisted mind already racing with sick ideas of what to do with this herd, he’d played with them long enough, now he needed to hurt them. The Monster took one step out from his hiding place…
And got a greying hoof slammed into his throat.
“Munstah.” Calvin growled as he pinned the Fluffy to the fence. “Yu nu huwt hewd nu mowe, Cawvin gib meanie Fwuffy foweba sweepies.”
To his surprise, The Monster started laughing, chuckling away at Calvin’s threat. The dim streetlight caught The Monster’s eyes as he stared Calvin down, flashing orange against his fire-red fluff.
And Calvin was terrified.
“Dummeh Cawvin fink he can kiww Cwimson? Nu fukin way.”
The Monster darted forward and bit into Calvin’s neck, ripping a chunk out. Calvin barely had time to react before his throat was ripped from his body, his white fur was soaked with his blood as he fell backwards, silently coughing away the last of his life until he bled out, and was gone.
The Monster smirked at Calvin’s corpse, satisfied that his first kill went so cleanly, he turned away from Calvin and moved towards the others.
Spike woke with a start, he’d been on a hair-trigger since his attack, every little thing setting him on edge, waiting for The Monster to return.
Tonight, it was the thick smell of blood that woke him.
Spike peered out from the door to the nest, and immediately jumped back in when he was The Monster, the cruel figure walked slowly towards him, Calvin’s dead body behind him.
Spike thought about what he could do. He couldn’t shout for help, that would alert The Monster to his presence, he couldn’t run to warn Patches, his bruise would slow him down and again, alert The Monster.
He only had one option; distract The Monster long enough until help arrived.
Spike didn’t wait this time, he couldn’t risk letting The Monster get that close to Jenny again. As soon as he saw the bright red flesh of his enemy, Spike ran out, slamming his head into The Monster’s leg.
It did enough, taking The Monster off-balance enough to drop him to his knees, Spike spun round and shoved his ass in The Monster’s face to let off a stream of sorry-poopies.
The Monster snarled as his face was covered in shit, he strike his head forward and bit into Spike’s back, the little colt cried in pain as The Monster tossed him towards the back of the alley. Spike landed in the pool of Calvin’s blood, his back ripped to shreds and bleeding badly, he tried to stand up only to have The Monster kick him over and press a hoof into Spike’s stomach, the fresh wounds on his back stung against the cold wet ground.
“Stoopid fukin babbeh.” The Monster growled at him. “Wha make yu fink yu can huwt Cwimson?”
“Meanie munstah gib mummah foweba sweepies. Spike wan huwt munstah.”
The Monster smirked at the little grey colt. “Mummah the wittew puwpew bitch? Cwimson wememba hew, twy tu gib hew speciaw-huggies, she tuff bitch, Cwimson had tu kiww hew.”
Spike flailed his legs, trying to get out from underneath The Monster, not wanting to her about his mother’s murder.
The Monster continued. “Wen Cwimson dun wiv yu, gun kiww aww yuw fwiends, den, gun num the pwetty babbehs. Bu nu wowwies, Cwimson keep the yewwow kunt awive, gun gib hew mowe babbehs.”
The Monster snarled, his mouth drooling with thoughts of murder. Spike looked for his friends, Patches and Penny had heard his cries but they were too far away, they wouldn’t get here in time to save him.
Spike looked around, trying to find some advantage he could take to save his life. And then he saw it, it was risky, it would either give him the pause he needed to escape, or make The Monster angrier and kill him faster. Spike knew he had no choice, he had to take this opportunity, even if it killed him, he readied himself, took a deep breath…
And kicked his hoof up as hard as he could between The Monster’s legs.
Josef Mongola was looking around his garden, trying to find his Fluffy Crimson, he usually found him sleeping under a bush or among the flowers but today there was no sign of him. He was getting worried when he heard a shuffling noise behind him, he looked and saw Crimson pulling himself through a hole in the bottom of the fence.
Josef didn’t even know there was a hole there.
“Crimson? Dammit man, you know I hate it when you run off like that, you’re gonna have to go in the sorry box for this little…”
Josef stopped as Crimson got closer, his face was stained with shit and his two back legs were crossed over, protecting two very sore and very bruised testicles.
“Jesus Crimson, what the hell happened to you?”
“Cwimson nu wan tawk bout it.” Crimson spoke in a hoarse voice as he walked past his owner, not looking Josef in the eyes. “Cwimon jus wan gu sweepies. An may-bee hab fwozen peas as weww.”
Josef watched as his damaged pet tried to climb the steps of his porch, whatever he faced last night must’ve been one tough bastard to get Crimson in this state. Josef moved to follow Crimson inside when he stopped and looked back at the hole in his fence, wondering if he should fix it.
He decided not to just yet, what would be the worst thing that could happen if he just left it for a moment? A whole herd climbs through? That’d be something to see.
Spike took a moment to wake up, his muscles were in agony, one of his back legs felt stiff and hard to move, his back wounds still stung in the cool air. But he was alive, and that was the main thing.
He pulled himself to his feet and walked outside the nest, it was bright-time, and he’d slept through most of it already. He saw Patches and the others gathered around the food supply and made a beeline for them, only to be stopped by a lovely orange filly along the way.
“BRUDDA! Ebewywun, Spike am wakies nyo.”
Maria threw her hoofs around Spike and hugged him with everything she had, her brothers and sisters followed suit, all thanking their big brother for protecting them. The adults arrived to congratulate him as well, Jenny giving the first proper hug of the group, being careful of his back wound.
“Spike sab hewd fwom munstah, sab babbehs, Jen-ee wub Spike su mush, bestesh big brudda eba.”
Perch hugged him next while Penny rubbed Spike’s mane. “Pen-ee ny knyo if yu bwave ow dummeh, bu happy awive fwind.”
“Spike am bwava dan Pewcy, need teach Pewcy tu be bwave wike Spike.”
Patches stepped up and overshadowed them all. “Wet Spike heaw fiwst, den be bwave togetha. Come wib Pat-cheese Spike, hab tu tawk.”
Spike followed Patches to the back of the alleyway, trying his best to keep up with a sprained leg. When Patches stopped, Spike saw that Calvin’s blood was still staining the ground, but his body had been taken away.
Again, Spike didn’t ask where.
Patches sighed. “Gun miss Cawvin, been fwiend fow wong time, said he knyo Pat-cheese Fwuffy daddeh.”
“Spike sowwy, nu couwd sab Cawvin.”
“Nu Spike fauwt, Cawvin knyo wisk, take it tu pwotect hewd. Jus wike Spike du wast dawk-time as weww.”
“Fink Munstah be bak?” Spike asked trying to hide his fear.
Patches shook his head. “Nu, Munstah fink he be beaten by babbeh, nu wan twy gain. Bu munstah nu knyo he beaten by bwavest Fwuffy of aww.”
Spike smiled, happy that Patches was proud of him.
Patches looked down at the little grey colt, and he made a choice there and then to reward Spike. “Spike, Pat-cheese am gun be nyu Smawty, hewd need weada an Pat-cheese weady tu step-up. Bu Pat-cheese am Tuffie, if Pat-cheese am Smawty, den who be Tuffie?”
Spike thought for a moment. “Pen-ee, she bwave, she vewy tuff.”
“Pen-ee gud, bu Pat-cheese fink udda Fwuffy. Pat-cheese fink Spike be nyu Tuffie.”
Spike gasped, never imagine he’d be his herd’s toughie. “Wai Spike, am onwy wittew babbeh?”
“Spike am bwavest, bestesh Fwuffy awound, pwotect hewd fwom munstahs, put babbeh’s wifes in fwont of own, du anyfing fow hewd tu make suwe dey safe. Spike alweady am tuffie, nyo am wun fow weal.”
Spike ran up and threw his hoofs around Patches, tears of joy falling from his eyes, Patches hugged Spike back.
“Fank yu Pat-cheese, Spike gun be bestesh tuffie eba.”
Patches nodded, knowing Spike meant it, the two of them turned back to the herd to tell them the good news.
Alley life is hard for a Fluffy, and the herd would certainly face more dangers as time went on.
But with Spike protecting them against anything that threatened his herd, they knew they’d be safe.
And they were.
